As unlimited mobile data plans become less common, it's more important than ever to understand how much cellular data your phone is using. That's where Data Sense comes in.

Data Sense shows a detailed breakdown of data usage on your Windows Phone and helps you avoid unexpected charges by indicating when you're nearing your data plan limit. It can also help by putting off data-intensive tasks until you're connected to Wi-Fi.

Tip

You can pin the Data Sense app to Start to see at-a-glance info about your cellular and Wi-Fi data usage. In the App list, tap and hold Data Sense

, then tap Pin to Start.

Note

This topic is about Windows Phone 8.1. If your phone is running Windows Phone 8, some options and icons may look a little different, and some features may not be available. Check to see which software version you have and find out if an update is available.

Tracking your data usage

Some mobile operators may automatically configure Data Sense with your plan info. If not, you'll need to manually enter it so Data Sense can start tracking how much cellular data your phone is using during each billing cycle.

To set up Data Sense

In the App list, tap Data Sense

, then tap Set limit.

Under Limit type, tap one of the following:

If you have a preset amount of data to use and the data will expire at a specific date, tap One time.

If you have a limited amount of data you can use each month before you're charged for overages, tap Monthly.

If you have unlimited data but still want to track your usage, tap Unlimited.

If you chose One time or Monthly, tap the available lists to enter values and dates that match your data plan.

Tap Done

.

Note

Even if your mobile operator automatically provides your plan info to Data Sense, you can still manually adjust your data limit in the app if you prefer.

Conserving data with Data Sense

Data Sense limits the amount of background data your phone uses. Many apps and phone features are designed to automatically fetch info behind the scenes as a convenience (think of an email app regularly checking for new messages, for example). With Data Sense, you can choose when to limit this kind of activity.

Note

In Data Sense, the Browser data savings setting will appear, but will have no effect because the service that was used to compress web pages is no longer available. Regardless of what you select for this setting, web pages won't be sent to the Data Sense service and compressed.

To restrict background data automatically

In the App list, tap Data Sense

.﻿﻿

Tap Settings

, turn on Restrict background data

, and then do one of the following:

To restrict background data when you're getting near your limit, tap When I'm near my limit.

Selecting Always means that your Live Tiles won't update, and you'll need to manually sync your email to get new messages (unless you connect to Wi-Fi). So in most cases, you'll want to use When I'm near my limit.